Tag Archives: Tulsa State Fair

A Guy Who Hates Crowds Checks out the Tulsa State Fair

I am not much into crowds but I like State Fairs. How does that work you may wonder. Well you have to plan things is what I say. Read up.

The planning started this past. Not only do I dislike crowds, I like a good deal. The Tulsa Library System has an Adult Summer Reading Program. You sign up for on an app and you do everything online except pick up your prize. The prize was a coffee cup and a book of coupons including a coupon to get into the fair for free. So anyway the day I went to the Fair I brought my coupon, and they took it. Phase 1 successful.

https://flic.kr/p/2rwrdKE

First thing I saw after I went through the gate. Doesn’t get any more state fair than this.

Oh, I almost forgot. Go on a school day, early!! Do not go on the weekend if you don’t like crowds.

I headed for Central Hall where the arts and crafts are and saw this. I thought it was funny as all get out. How do they get there? How do they vet the parents when they show up? I have questions.

The first thing I saw was the photography exhibits. All sorts of talented photographers entered into the many different categories.

I am reminded again that I am not a photographer. I’m a picture taker!! Anybody can take pictures.

This is my favorite photo. I thought it was hilarious. Surely it should have got 3rd prize don’t you think? Wait a minute, its that a photo of me? Probably not, probably.

And then the pumpkin carving section. That’s always fun.

And this is my favorite pumpkin. Does it look like somebody?

And then the various projects done by students. They always amaze me with skill and imagination.

Lots of entries on grasses. You mean there is more than one kind of grass in the world? I get reminded of that every year.

They had entries on rocketry. I had never seen that before. I was involved with model rocketry when I was in high school and the first year of college. That was fun. I got to go the Air Force Academy and present some research I did on multistage model rockets.

Enough with all that, I went to the next building where they had a petting zoo and some sheep and goats on display.

And on to the animal barns. They animals on display were cows.

And this guy giving me side-eye. He’s beautiful.

I ventured over the midway for an obligatory food shot. Not into the midway, nor the buildings where they sell stuff. It’s all hot and crowded and I don’t do it. That’s okay there is lots of other stuff to do.

Found my way to the beer tent.

Got myself a corndog

And a wheat beer and got the farthest table I could from everybody else. Easy to do at this time of day.

Check out the Tulsa State Fair Web Site

I am linking with My Corner of the World

Tulsa State Fair Skywatch

I like to go to the Tulsa State Fair every year. I only spend about a couple hours.

All I do basically is take photographs.

As you can tell I like Ferris Wheels.

And I love this two story merry go round. They have had it for years.

Some of the ride parts are amusing, or scary. If I was a kid this would scare me to death. I don’t ride any of the rides. Nope, not a ride person.

At least this guy is smiling. Not for me though.

And I like taking photos of the food stands. I love this faux corner brick pizza place. Nope, not going to touch it.

Not tempted by Chicken City either. I love the design though.

Another Chicken place.

You know, I don’t even know what a funnel cake is. Nor do I want to find out. I generally get a corn dog. Kind of hard to mess that up. I only get one corn dog per year.

I like all the 4H and FFA projects on display. Someone restored this beautiful tractor.

So at the end of my 2.5 mile wibble wobble of the Tulsa State Fair I found the German Beer tent and had me a wheat beer, or two. Later on I got a corn dog.

For a more traditional skywatch photo, here is a crescent moon from a week or so ago.

Thanks for sticking with me. I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.

Our World Tuesday – Tulsa State Fair 2018

Last Saturday I went to the Tulsa State Fair. I love the Fair, I try and go every year. I love the sights and sounds , and the people and all the colors.

I got there kind of early so the midway wasn’t very busy yet.

Don’t you love it. I wouldn’t touch cotton candy with a ten foot pole. I haven’t had any since I was a kid. I am kind of a sensory guy and the texture totally creeps me out. Plus, too danged sweet.

Photos, I take my own photos, thank you very much.

I checked out the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show. I did a separate blog post on it yesterday. I love all the cakes! I spent the most time there.

Then I went to the far eastern end where the crafts were. I love the quilts. There were lots of quilts there. Very nice.

This little teardrop trailer was a winner in a woodworking classification. Isn’t it gorgeous. These little trailers are very popular in geocaching campouts. I’ve always wondered about the practicality of these things. Like I am 63 years old and there is no way that I could change clothes in this thing. They are cool to look at though.

Pumpkins, lots of decorated pumpkins. I love decorated pumpkins. There were no Trump pumpkins this year, that I saw unlike previous years. Maybe they don’t allow them.

They had a lego competition. Lots of great entries.

I moved over the adjoining building where they had the birthing center (for critters not humans, just so you know, although they could probably handle that too, that would give them little kids an education don’t you know!) and the petting zoo. I didn’t go to either one of those. I took one look of vintage veterinarian tools and I saw all I needed to see.

And then over the FFA exhibits. I love those. It is kind of the best of small town Oklahoma. (Which is the best of Oklahoma in my opinion.) They had pumpkins also. They had a bunch lined up outside of the building. I didn’t see any Trump pumpkins here either. (I am going to call them Trumpkins from now on.)

They had a Smokey Bear pumpkin inside. As a Forest Ranger’s kid I am always into anything Smokey Bear.

There were lots of Snoopy themed pumpkins.

This is my favorite. No Trumpkins inside though.

The various FFA chapters have table displays and I love looking at those. Lots of work and creativity involved. This is for the Oolagah, Oklahoma Chapter. Oolagah is a town about an hour north of Tulsa, near where Will Rogers grew up. I loved the photo in this display. All those pretty young women and the guy, dressed in pink. Obviously confident himself and smart enough to hang out with women. I have always preferred the company of women, myself. Kudos the guy, whoever he is. I salute you. And whoever had the genius idea of inverting the expected colors. Nice.

A flower display.

Displays on native grasses in Oklahoma.

And this was an FFA project, to restore this beautiful Massey-Ferguson tractor.

And then on to the critters. I swear the pigs were making eye contact looking for a friendly face.

Some handsome sheep.

And the cows. These are Herefords. What my Dad called white faces. You don’t see too many of them these days.

The longhorns are always impressive.

Another longhorn.

At the beer garden at the Oklahoma State Fair

I finished up and rested up with a Spaten Optimator at the Beer Garden. That and a corn dog was the only thing I paid for at the Fair (except for the $6 entry fee, and a $1 tip to the shuttle bus drivers, and a corn dog.) So, I’ll be back next year!

I am linking with Our World Tuesday

Tulsa’s 2017 Corndog Challenge 5K Race – Our World Tuesday

Friday night, on a whim, I decided to run the Corndog Challenge 5K at the Tulsa Fairgrounds. How could I resist, you HAD to drink a mimosa, eat an apple dumpling, and a chicken and waffle during the race. I mean it was MANDATORY!!! How could I resist? For those that could resist that had the Corndog Classic 5K run at the same time on the same course, and at the same cost.

So I ventured out to the Fairgrounds early to pick up my packet and all that.

I noticed that TATUR Racing was timing the race. Now there are lots of good timing outfits out there, but TATUR is the best as far as I am concerned. Brian Hoover and his crew always do a great job and go above and beyond in order to make sure that the races are great. They not only time races they produce events also.

Waiting for the race to start I checked out the Golden Driller. Tulsa has the Driller and the gigantic praying hands (some say healing hands) at Oral Roberts University. Maybe somebody should have a Praying Hands 5K? The ORU campus is big enough and hilly enough that there could be an interesting course.

I looked at the bounce houses they had set up and wondered what the heck. Boys on left, girls on right? Any boy went to the prince house is smart. That is where all the girls are going to be. You have to think outside the box is my motto.

And of course being a corndog race they had a corndog stand. I love the visuals of fair food but don’t like the food. Except of course corndogs. I have one per year. This year I am having two, one at this race, and one at the fair.

So anyways they got everybody together at the start line and gave the instructions and we sang the national anthem. Nobody took a knee, and then the gun sounded and off we went.

As advertised we looped around the fairgrounds and at some point we had the apple dumpling served to us, and then the mimosa’s (above photo) and finally the mini version of chicken and waffle. I could handle all of it but it was kind of hot and humid and I was huffing and puffing and I had to work at getting the chicken and waffle down, but I did it. It was toward the end and the course along with the heat and humidity had pretty much kicked my butt.

And I finished, vertically, with dignity. I finished fourth out of six in my age group.

I gulped down some water, and then drank more water, and then drank the complimentary adult malted beverage, and then ate a corn dog. It was kind of rich so I only ate about two thirds of it.

I was kind of doubtful that they could put a 5K race at the fairgrounds but what do I know!! They did it, and it was fun and challenging.

And a nice t shirt. It wasn’t this wrinkled when they gave it to me. I forgot to take a picture of it yesterday so today I dug it out of the laundry and took a photo of it. Full disclosure is my middle name!! Me and Donald Trump Junior are alike that way.

So I give the race 5 stars out of five. Great course, great timing, fun, entertainment, well organized, lots of volunteers, food, beverages, and a shirt. Check, check, check, check, check, check, and check. I think everybody had a great time. Plus did I tell you that we all got a free ticket to the State Fair that is happening later this month. Yep, we did.

Thank you to the organizers who put on the race, the volunteers who worked like dogs behind the scenes to make sure everything was perfect, and the army of volunteers who showed up the day of the race to hand out the food and drink, and water on the course and cheer everybody on, and kudos to the runners who showed up. The proceeds from the race are going to the Tulsa Area United Way and Food for Kids. Also, thank you to the sponsors of the race. A lot of work by a lot of people go into these races and I appreciate them all.

I’ll be back again next year!!

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday

Oklahoma Sugar Art Show and Grand National Wedding Cake Competition 2016

One event I try to never miss is the Oklahoma Sugar Art Show at the Tulsa State Fair. it is only two days so if you snooze you lose. This year I couldn’t go Saturday so like a pagan heathen I went Sunday. Lots less pushing and shoving if you you Sunday I found out but there is still a lot of people.

The theme this year was “Mad for Metallics” so there was a metallic theme to the entries. My favorite cake was this Steam Punk themed cake. All sorts of gears and pipes and such.

Here is a detail. Marvelous is what I say.

I loved this gardening themed piece with the butterfly.

And this Winnie the Pooh themed item with the Pooh and the bee hive.

And this was absolutely gorgeous.

And these gears,

And these happy flowers. I wonder if they are a bit creepy though.

And there were a couple of Day of the Dead pieces also. That day is fast becoming my favorite holiday. Now I am sounding creepy.

And a mask, I love masks. There used to be lots of mask entries but they are so fragile.

And a classic beautiful piece.

I love the lattice work. How do they do that?

And a Victorian themed cake.

Digital Art Meme – Fair Food

I am continuing on the Tulsa State Fair from my visit Sunday. I love the colorful food trailers at the fair. I am not a big fan of fair food but I do love the sights. Has anybody ever tried the world famous, as seen on the Food Network, original Minneapple Pie? If you have tell us about it.

I used Topaz Impressions on this. I have now joined the Photoshop world. Son is taking a computer graphics class at school so I figure he can teach me how to use it. I’m really interested in learning about layers and using textures and such. I’ll keep you posted.

Today I’m linking with Digital Art Meme.

Our World – 2015 Tulsa State Fair

Sunday morning I headed out to the Tulsa State Fair. I got there late in the morning and not too many people were there. Which is fine with me.

All the rides were getting ready for the day. I am not much of a ride guy.

They have an incredible variety of food there. I generally eat only one thing. A couple years ago it was grasshopper pizza. Today I had a pretty good Indian Taco.

I was mainly there for the Oklahoma Sugar Art Show. It is supposed to be the top show in the US for such things. I will post more examples later in the week but this is an example. It is kind of an inverted layer cake with lots of lace decorations.

The detail is amazing. All the external components must be food grade. No real flowers, or non food decorations allowed.

They had a category shoes as well. I had never seen edible shoes before.

Next I moseyed over to the FFA displays. I always enjoy seeing what they put together.

They had a great display of pumpkins.

And of course, being a State Fair you gotta have critters. Like cows.

and horses.

I did take one ride. The skyride that bisects the fair east and west. There is a coliseum on the fair grounds and Disney on Ice was putting on there show. There were little girls in the Frozen costumes all over the fair going to the show with their mothers. Pretty sweet if you ask me. I’m a guy, I can’t say it is precious, even if is precious.

So anyway, it was a pretty cheap outing. I took the shuttle bus from a satellite location so parking was free, $10 for admission, a nice Optimator draft beer at the beer garden and an Indian Taco cost another $16, the Skyride cost me $4. So, all in all, it was a cheap outing.